Whether you're a business looking to connect with your audience in a deeper way or a classroom teacher looking for ways to help your students understand content in a meaningful way, storytelling is a powerful and useful tool.

In the classroom, storytelling allows students to create emotional connections with content and to understand subject matter in a deeper way.

There are a number of common elements that will help you craft a powerful story. These are things for you to consider:

Short in Length

You want to be able to tell your business story in a way that captures attention...and then holds it without losing it. The reality is that people have short attention spans. Whether they are listening to you speak or watching your video, you may lose them if you go on for too long. Your story can vary depending on where you're telling it. For business, if you integrate your story into your "elevator pitch," you'll obviously want to hit the highlights in 30 seconds or so. If you're creating a story video for business or for the classroom, aim for less than a minute and a half to 3 minutes. Of course you can tell your story in a lengthier way in other places, but you want to be able to capture the basics in as little time as necessary.

Driven by Character

Storytelling centers around the main characters. In the classroom, the characters are typically fairly easy to identify. However, characters are important even in business. This isn't necessarily just one person. It could be the founder. It could also be the entire team. Characters also include the people you serve - who they are and what they need from you. Consider how all these people have shaped your company story.

Driven by Conflict

Consider this...every great story has conflict. That is what makes it powerful. In classroom storytelling, the conflict encapsulates the challenges that the primary characters face and overcome. The conflict in your business story may be the challenges your customers are experiencing that you help them overcome. It may be a business challenge that you faced as an organization that shaped you into being what you are today. As you think about these hardships, you'll be able to find one or two that have an important role in your story.

Narrative in Nature

Your story should actually be...a story! Stating what your characters do or what your company does is not a story. Combining the elements of character and conflict will create a narrative that paints your business as a living, breathing entity that inspires others.

Good Pacing

If you tell your story too quickly, its message will be lost on your listeners. If you tell your story too slowly, you'll lose your listeners before you end. Make sure your story is paced well, and practice this so it feels right.

Engaging

In telling your story - show it! Use words that will enable the listener to visualize what you're saying, words that will make the listener part of the experience and part of you. This creates an emotional connection with the listener.

Emotional

A great story evokes an emotional response. Listeners should feel something as you share your story. This will stem from the ways in which you combine your story elements to show the meaning of the story. In business, this means showing who you are at the core of your organization and what you have experienced to get where you are and to help those who you serve. If you have no emotion telling your story - the listener won't feel emotion either.

Personalized with Audio and Visuals

When telling your story with a tool like video, it is powerful to supplement your story with music and visuals. These can help tell your story. They help set the stage. They introduce the characters. They can underscore the conflict. They help engage and evoke emotion. Don't neglect these powerful tools.

Storytelling truly can take your content and your business to the next level. Take the time to start telling yours.

“The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” –James Allen

Autumn is here, and with it comes the Harvest, a time to reap the rewards of the efforts we have put forth all year. We have cultivated the land, planted our seeds, fertilized them, watered them and eliminated weeds and other threats that might cause harm.

Now, we gather berries from wild bushes, pick apples from their trees, carefully select pumpkins ripe for carving into jack-o-lanterns and harvest the multitude of crops that have been planted across the region.

In the years of our forefathers, that would be all for another year. With the advancement of technology, however, the cycle of planting and harvesting can now be repeated in various ways and locations throughout the year.

This is much as it is with social media. It’s not a one-time event but a continual process that generates the deep and meaningful results that can come with connecting online.

First, we must cultivate the ground. We setup what is necessary to engage. We create our Facebook and Instagram pages, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, Pinterest boards and more. We add pictures, descriptions about ourselves and website links.

Do we leave it at that? Certainly not. Cultivating alone does nothing.

Without tending to the seeds we have planted, many if not all will die, and then it will all have been for naught.

So, we engage. This, truly, is where the magic happens.

We send messages to our friends. We respond to people’s posts. We comment. We like. We favorite. We reply. We retweet. And we keep doing it…over and over again.

Then, after many months of engaging, our harvest comes in the form of true friends, new business partners, loyal customers and more. And that is just the beginning.

As new online platforms emerge, we cultivate them. We continuously plant new seeds as we make more connections, and we consistently tend to our garden as we engage. As we do, each harvest becomes more bountiful, and the rewards are truly limitless.

Through social networking we do, indeed, sow our character.

Learning to protect yourself and teaching your children to do the same is one of the very best things you can do for yourself if you are going to spend time online (which, come on now…aren’t we all?).

Unfortunately, most adults have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to protecting themselves, so there are few people teaching young people what they need to know, either.

Every social media channel has ways in which you can increase your privacy on that network. This is true for some much more than others. The first step, then, is to educate yourself about how to keep your accounts as private as possible.

I once got a Facebook message from a “friend” saying that she was cutting down her “friend” list, and rather than being friends she wanted me to like her business page and connect with her that way.

Perhaps it goes with out saying that I did not like her business page.

I felt quite snubbed at first. Then after considering it I realized that had she been a real friend, this wouldn’t be an issue – and I don’t need non-friends as “friends” on social media.

Nevertheless, she could have handled this in a better way.

There may well be certain social networks that you want to keep for your closest friends and family. However, there are likely other social networks that you’re comfortable connecting personally with your wider circle of friends.

For example, LinkedIn is a very trusted professional platform, and users do not engage in the same personal ways there as they do on, say, Facebook. However, it still provides a way for people to stay connected personally and as individuals, which is what we all crave.

I may follow my friends’ business pages because I’m interested in what they’re doing and I want to support t their growth. However, that does not take the place of the personal connection I want to maintain with that person.

To honor our relationship, my “friend” could have sent this message:

Hi there, I’ve decided that I’m going to start using Facebook just for personal interactions with my closest family and friends. However, I really want to stay connected, so I’m hoping that we can be friends on LinkedIn instead.

Having received that message, I would have understood her own personal needs for keeping her Facebook account for her closest friends and I also would have felt that she values our relationship and wants to stay in touch in a different way. That would have left me feeling honored and respected, and I would have gladly honored her needs and connected with her on LinkedIn instead.

So, if you find yourself in that situation….remember that your friends want to be connected with YOU, not just your business. Find a way to make it work so you can maintain those friendships that you value.

Social media can be a dangerous place for young people. There are predators and cyberbullies masquerading as their friends, and most often young people do not know how to protect themselves.

However, protecting our youth extends beyond simply teaching them how to set their privacy settings. That’s where a family social media contract comes in.

A family social media contract is an agreement created on a foundation of trust within the family.

It is intended to create an open environment where everyone in the family can discuss what happens on social media in a non-judgemental and non-controlling way. It is aimed at encouraging parents to talk with their kids and teenagers to talk with their parents.

A family social media contract might include things like:

What all of you (this includes parents, not just children) can and cannot post on social channels

Shared account access (so that passwords are public within the family)

Processes of maximizing privacy on all social channels

Commitment to share with each other any inappropriate activity that takes place (like sexual misconduct or cyberbullying)

Rules and guidelines for engagement that address everyone’ needs so the entire family is in agreement and understands

It is important for parents to let your kids know that you trust them and simply want to be there when they need you to help keep them safe.

It is important for teenagers to let your parents know that you value your privacy and independence on social networks

This can be a great way to keep young people safe while building trust and increasing communication within your family.

Whether you're creating an original video for business or compiling multi-media projects in the classroom, audio is an important element in every presentation.

Audio sets the tone and helps convey emotion. Music and/or sound effects can make the difference between a presentation that WOWs or one that falls flat on its face.

However, it is important not to fall into what is a very common trap these days: using music that you do not have permission to use.

Using a popular song from iTunes or off the web is STEALING.

There's just no other way to put it. You simply cannot do this. If you do this in business, you are compromising your reputation, and you're putting yourself at risk to be sued. If you do this in the classroom, you are teaching your students that stealing is okay (and I'm sure you don't want to do that).

Instead, there are a number of audio resources where you can find music and sound effects under the creative common license, which means that artists have provided their music for public use. Most often the music is free to use, and you do not have to cite the source.

Soulcial Communication. Definition - The infusion of soul into communication.

As goofy as it may seem to some, the infusion of soul into communication is nothing short of magic. Why? Because your soul is the essence of who you are - as an individual, a business, a society. To have soul-less conversations is meaningless, and yet I'd venture to say that most conversations that businesses have on a day to day basis is just that - lacking soul.

On the other hand, the conversations that soulcial communication produces are deep, real and meaningful....and they can have a powerful impact on your bottom line.

Why? Because when you connect with your audience in this soulcial way, you are reaching them at a deeper level. They gain a more authentic understanding of who you truly are and how you can help them.

At Wired Flare we use this process of soulcial communication in everything we do. The work we do in the field of marketing and communications isn't "work" but rather an extension of who we are and who you are.

I built my company, Wired Flare, on the foundation that business is part of life, completely intertwined with all that we are. That means that the bodies, minds, spirits of everyone on the team impacts who we are as an organization. At Wired Flare, this is our core; this is how we communicate for ourselves and on behalf of our clients.

However, there was a time when we lost our way.

As we grew and had a larger marketing team, we became so focused on the techniques, the strategy and the production of results…that we lost sight of what was most important. For lack of a better explanation, we lost our soul, at least the soulful part of our communication.

The hardest part was that I allowed it to happen, and because of that our business suffered. We became stagnant, and as I look back now, I completely understand why.

After all...how can business grow without its soul?

At first I didn’t realize fully what was happening. I recognized a problem and fixed it the only way I knew would work – I got back to basics and re-integrated myself into all of our work processes. The results were very powerful. My soul was in it, and it showed.

However I couldn’t keep doing all that and run the rest of my business too. So, why if I could do it, couldn’t my team do the same?

Then one day it hit me.

It dawned on me that there was a very key difference between my approach to our work and the approach of my team. Mine had soul. My soul and the souls of our clients, all connected and part of each other. However, I hadn’t taught my team how to put the soul in their work, too. They had the talent and the skills. They knew the techniques and the strategies. None of that was enough. Their souls weren’t in it, and they didn’t know how to put their souls in it. They didn’t know and I hadn’t taught them.

OUCH! Now THAT was a huge awakening.

Once I realized the problem, I also knew the solution…The solution is what I now call Soulcial Communication. I needed first to hire a team that was in alignment with my goals and visions for the company and who shared my core values. Then I needed to share my soulcial communication process with them and establish it as the foundation of our business growth.

So I did. I let go those who were no longer in alignment with where we need to go, and I started building a new team who would help me put the soul into everything we were doing. Wow, what a difference it has made.

When you put your core values front and center in your business and focus on being authentic and baring your soul to your audience, you'll find that the magic will start to happen in your business, too.

No other business has your story.

They paint pictures and build emotional connections between people across the globe - or right in front of you.

Stories are many things that an audience craves from the people and businesses with which it does business. Stories are:

Engaging

Memorable

Relatable

Personal

Stories preserve who we are.

There's no other tool or technique that can capture the core essence of a business so completely as storytelling because like nothing else it sets you completely apart and shares the uniqueness that makes you you.

However, most organizations do not tell their own story. They get so caught up in creating and delivering their products and services, providing customer service and promoting what they have to offer, that they often forget to communicate with their audiences in a way that truly resonates and builds relationships.

Ask the most well-known marketers in today's day and age, and they're all saying the same thing:

“Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill when it comes to business.” - Gary Vaynerchuk

“People think in stories, not statistics, and marketers need to be master storytellers.” - Arianna Huffington

“I simply see life as one great story after another, and that’s just the way I’ve always communicated. People remember stories. It allows them to create pictures, which is a big deal. Plus it helps them know me, trust me, like me, and support me in some way — maybe directly as a customer or indirectly as an advocate” - Marcus Sheridan

Any way you frame it, social media is a conversation.

It may be a boring one, an exciting one, one that people want to participate in or one that they want to leave. It may be heartwarming or funny or irritating or off-putting. It may have real meaning or it may reflect no depth at all.

When you look at social media as a conversation, it's a way truly to connect with people. It's an opportunity to extend your hand for a handshake in the virtual world.

It’s about building relationships. Our social conversations give companies the chance to connect with people and do business all over the world, if they want to.

These conversations allow us to share ourselves and get to know others. about sharing yourself and getting to know others. These conversations are real, and the relationships they build can be strong and exist without borders.

So, the crucial question then becomes...

As a company, what type of conversation do you want to start with your social engagement?

Do you want to "talk at" your audience with one-way communication? OR...do you want to find a way to communicate more meaningfully and develop deep, trusting relationships?

Sourcing images in the Internet can pose a challenge for those actually attempting to stay within legal and moral boundaries.

Anyone can find every image they could imagine simply by conducting a Google search for whatever it is they seek. However (and pay attention now)...in most cases it is against copyright law to use those images. To put it another way:

To grab an image from a Google search and use it in content without citing the source is stealing.

Yes, you heard me right. Likely this is not the intent, however, it is often what happens. There are even content marketing companies managing social media for other organizations that make this a common practice. However, there can be nasty legal repercussions that can occur, and rightly so.

Best practice is simply to source images with a creative commons license (which means that artists have given permission for others to use their images), and there are many sites that also require no royalty fees so that images are free.

From marketing materials to classroom projects to digital stories, images bring the message to life and are a necessary part of creating engaging content.

So, rather than risk the penalties of stealing an image from Google, try one of these 12 sites that offer free creative commons images.

These days it seems everyone has something to say about the U.S. Presidential elections. Typically, I’m one who keeps my “political” beliefs pretty close to my chest. Why? I’ve always been the peacemaker. As the peacemaker, you don’t ask questions that may incite argument or dissension. As the peacemaker you find ways to bridge gaps and highlight our commonalities. As the peacemaker, quite simply, you try to make peace.

I’m making an exception – in the name of peace.

That’s right, I’m still a peacemaker…a peacemaker in search of and support of peacemakers who can lead our nations.

Who am I to weigh in? I’m an American. I’m a citizen of the world. I’m a human being. I’m a woman. I’m a mom, a wife, a friend, an entrepreneur.

In many ways that do, in fact, matter…I am you.

I have had the privilege of living in two great nations. An American by birth, I’m a Canadian by marriage, and although we are living in the United States my heart will always be in both.

This matters because I have been able to experience joy and pride as Canada’s newly elected Prime Minster has taken it upon himself to be a peacemaker within his nation and the world – to build bridges between peoples and countries, to underscore our similarities, to fight for love and respect of all people in Canada and around the world, whether they can and do fight for themselves or not.

He is making efforts to do good in this world.

What defines “good” is, of course, quite subjective. Then again, the tenets of every major religion in this world underscore that we as a human race do, indeed, have a common understanding of good.

I will define good as I understand it then, as loving others without exception and seeking never to do harm.

And of course, if you truly love – then you will seek to help and make better whenever and wherever you can. So then doing good also means living your life in a way that makes the lives of those around you better than it was before.

My mom and dad instilled in me at a very young age what was “right” and what was “wrong.” While we may have our differences and not everything is as black and white as it was when I was young, that belief in goodness has never changed, the belief that it is our job to do good in our own lives and in the lives of others.

While Canada has elected a leader who is striving to do good and succeeding, the “politics” of the United States is in turmoil.

To me, however, this is not an issue of “politics.”

I do not believe in “politics.” I believe in people.

I believe in people who have the potential to do great things that impact the lives of others in a positive way.

So, this is an issue of people. It is also an issue of one person, in particular, whose aim is not to make peace or build bridges. It is to build walls.

The fear in this nation is great, and Donald Trump is capitalizing on that. He speaks of women as objects, using offensive language that I never want my daughter to hear. He encourages violence at his rallies. He blames not just other countries for the problems that exist in the lives of those who listen – he blames Americans. Mexican Americans. Muslim Americans. African Americans. “Poor” Americans. Female Americans. Veteran Americans…you get the picture.

Here are just a few of his quotes to underscore how he really feels (warning: unedited language taken exactly from his words):

“Laziness is a trait in blacks.”

“You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.”

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you … they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

"Who the f knows? I mean, really, who knows how much the Japs will pay for Manhattan property these days."

“[John McCain] isn’t a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”

"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated."

"You know what I hate? There's a guy totally disruptive, throwing punches, we're not allowed to punch back anymore. ... I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell ya."

"There may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell -- I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees."

“You have to treat ’em [women] like shit.”

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn't lose voters."

His words incite intolerance and hate, and he is using the fear of the people to propel him forward, a tactic that has been used by some very powerful figures in our world’s history. Think back to the 1930’s and consider how a young leader so capitalized on the fear of his people that he was able to lead the extermination of 11 million innocent people (6 million of them Jews) – all because they were different. He preyed on people’s fear and turned it against all those who were different from his ideal.

These words, these actions are the opposite of everything that I know to be good…what my parents taught me and what I have learned for myself.

However, I believe that each of life's moments holds something that we need, something that can make us better.

There is a reason Donald Trump is here in our nation at this time. While I can’t speak to what this means for the entire country, for me the message is this: Donald Trump is a great reminder of what we could become if we allow our fear, anger and hate to drive us. If we allow ourselves to be consumed by the darkness around us, we do our best to extinguish the light that is our goodness, our love, our soul.

And yet the truth I know is that the light cannot be extinguished. Even in the darkest of nights, it is there – albeit hard to see. It burns within each of us and in our country and our world as a whole. It is Love. It is goodness. It is God, Allah, Buddha, Krishna… It is whatever you call most pure and most good.

However, we cannot rediscover the light by diving further into darkness.

So I implore all of you who are in search of something different. You’re disillusioned. You’re fed up with what our country has offered you, and you’re afraid of what lies ahead. I implore you not to allow your fear to extinguish your desire for good, and I implore you not to vote for a “leader” who would have you do so.

Instead, consider what it will really take to begin to repair the brokenness in our country:

Love.

Love can move mountains. It can build bridges. It can tear down walls. It can bring peace.

Love can be the dawn of a nation, stepping out of darkness and, as people united, into light.

People throughout history have loved a good party, and monumental celebrations took place even in ancient cultures. Solstice and Harvest festivals were celebrated in Ancient China and Mesopotamia, maybe earlier, and as cultures developed so did the celebrations of their people.

Olympic Games, May Day, Lantern Festivals…Celebrations lasted days, weeks, sometimes months. The people celebrated good fortune, healthy harvests, winning battles, births of kings. They gave thanks to the gods; they revered men of great power. Some civilizations throughout history didn’t need a reason to party…they celebrated day and night as an integrated part of their culture.

Fast forward to today, and we have thousands of celebrations around the world: Cinco de Mayo, Chinese New Year, el Dio de los Muertos, St. Patty’s Day, Christmas, Passover, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Thanksgiving…

We celebrate personal milestones with birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, retirements and even wakes, and we still hold the Olympic Games as a celebration of all countries, their peoples, and the diverse yet unified world in which we live.

Now, however, the celebrations held in one location can be shared virtually around the globe. Social networks have provided forums in which people from one corner of the earth to the other can rally together to celebrate for any and every reason imaginable.

We celebrate birthdays with thousands of people. It costs nothing, and yet the feel-good value of all those wishes is priceless. When babies are born, friends and family can be there in the moment, even when they are hundreds or more miles away. People hold Twitter parties that take place entirely in “the cloud.”

Sometimes, however, it’s the small day to day celebrations that are impacted most by social media. Why? Those are the celebrations that previously went un-celebrated, except by oneself.

A successful business moment, an unexpected pat on the back, a hug from your child for no reason at all, the joy of seeing a beautiful sunrise…

Before social networking, these moments were difficult to share. Now, however, we have a choice. Keep them to ourselves for as long as we like, or share with the world and in the time it takes to smile, friends are celebrating with us.

In a way, social networking has made every moment we live into more of a celebration. Why? Because we are able to share those moments with others.

So the party goes on around the world, day and night, without end. People celebrating people…life can’t get much better than that!

I recently had the opportunity to attend a public meeting for a new business space to be built in a pseudo-rural area outside Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. There were two distinct sides of the room, strangely enough – the right side supporting the space and the left one opposing it. What struck me about the opposition was the very evident and unwavering resistance to change.

This has prompted me to consider change itself and the importance of change both as it relates to the Internet and to growing a business in general.

The Internet, without doubt, is a constant platform of change.

It’s in a state of perpetual evolution and, whether we like it or not, this is the only thing about the Internet that won’t, in fact, change.

For businesses, this can be a huge asset. Instead of placing Yellow Page ads that are static and unchanging for a year, for example, businesses can engage in Internet marketing that is regularly adapted to incorporate new technologies and optimize to increase results.

Powerful, indeed.

How many of us right now are doing business without change?

Are we relying on the same strategies? The same ad copy? The same networking groups and events? Are we seeing the same results we’ve become accustomed to?

Perhaps it’s time to shake things up a bit! In fact, I’d go so far as to say that change is essential to growth, and the absence of it almost assuredly means “death” for the business.

Make a point to throw something new into your marketing mix this month: a new social media strategy, perhaps, or a new networking event.

Aim for 25% of your marketing efforts each month to be put into new strategies.

The result will be one of two things:

It will be so effective that it takes the place of one of your current initiatives.

It isn’t successful, so you drop that strategy and try something new in its place.

Change, adapt, repeat.

Continue this cycle, and you’re sure to see an increased ROI over time!

Change can be scary. It can also be one of the most rewarding experiences both in business and in life. If you haven’t already... challenge yourself to embrace change as part of your standard business (and life) plan. Then get ready for a fun ride!

Adapted from an article originally published in Integrity Magazine and shared on Wired Flare.

This morning I did my standard commute to work. This is the process I go through two or three days a week when I don’t have meetings scheduled. I woke up, kissed my husband goodbye for the day, did the morning scramble to get my daughter ready for school and there on time, poured myself a cup of much-needed coffee and got ready for my 5-second commute to my office. I must say, I’m quite lucky to be able to run a successful business from home. Not everyone has this luxury, and I’m thankful for the lack of overhead and the short commute. There are downsides, however…which brings me back to my story.

I did my 5-second commute and closed the French doors behind me only to discover that some sort of disaster had struck my office. Unsure momentarily what had happened, I pondered whether a thief might have ransacked the place or if a tornado had localized so that it damaged my office and not the other parts of the house. Just then my coffee kicked in and I realized that, indeed, my office disaster had been my own fault. So, I grabbed my laptop and proceeded back through the French doors to my “new office” otherwise known as the kitchen table.

Sometimes working from home is not as luxurious as it might seem. I am only accountable to myself, which while great in many ways also means I have no one else keeping me on track and ensuring that my office, my house, my schedule are organized as they should be.

Hmmm….so, what to do about this? Truly I do comprehend the strategies that are required to succeed at organization. Plan out my week in advance. Make out a schedule. Be specific. Schedule in time for everything from office work, business development and meetings to laundry, cleaning, mommy time and that ever-evasive “free time” we all need so much. I know this…so, why is it that I have relocated my office to the kitchen?

Well, as I see it there’s more to it than knowing what I need to do…I actually have to do it. Maybe this means leveraging my time and hiring an organizer and/or housekeeper. Maybe this means just striving hard to stick to the schedule I set for myself and not allowing myself to get off-task and distracted. More likely it's both of the above.

And maybe, just maybe, if I can show up 100% and be right there, in that moment, present at whatever it is that I'm doing right then - be it doing work or spending time with others or just being with myself - maybe if I can be 100% present, I'd find that there would be more than enough time to take care of the organization I so desperately need.

The title may imply that there is one overarching great quality of being a successful leader. In fact there are many qualities that enable one to garner respect as a leader:

honesty

integrity

wisdom

passion

empathy

That's just a starting place. However, to me there is one quality of being a leader that is often overlooked and has the potential to drive success like no other.

For me the most important quality of being a good leader is staying connecting to myself. When I’m completely myself, completely real, completely honest and authentic to the core, that’s when my words and actions truly resonate with others in a positive way…and of course that’s because they’re resonating within me.

Being a leader isn’t something you do when you step on stage. It’s something you are because your life, who you are and how you act in your everyday moments, inspires others and affects change.

If knowing oneself and staying connected to oneself are key elements of successful leadership, then my best advice to those who want to hone their leadership skills is this:

Be yourself.

You have within you everything you need to be a great leader and inspire greatness in others. You simply need to tap into it, cultivate it and let it shine. Be bold, be brave, be courageous, and know that you have the answer people need.

Be your greatest, truest self and you will be an inspiring leaders for others.

From the time we are young children we are exposed to the idea that if we think we can do something, if we believe in ourselves, then we can do it.

Take The Little Engine That Could as an example. The little engine thinks he can pull the big train over the hill, he can and he does. He believes in himself and he succeeds.

Parents encourage their youngsters to walk, to run, to throw the ball, to tie their shoes... by cheering, "You can do it!" We tell our children to believe in themselves. We tell them they can be anything and do anything.

Then somewhere along the way, the children stop believing. We stop believing. We stop believing that we can do it.

It's time to start believing again. Because here's the thing: If you believe you can't, you're right. If you believe you can, you're right.

Whether you can or can't do what you want or be what you want truly is up to you, and that is true for your personal life and for business.

What you may not know - perhaps because you haven't tried, is that actually speaking out loud to yourself, telling yourself repeatedly that you do believe in yourself is a very powerful thing, indeed. While you may feel like a crazy person at first, once you feel it working you'll realize how brilliant this really is.

For me, it's time to let everything go and focus on me, saying words that remind me to believe.

Here are some to help get you started on your I CAN journey:

I am happy.

I am a successful.

I love myself.

I believe in myself.

I believe that my work is significant for my family, myself, and others.

I can and will succeed in my business.

I will not quit.

I have what it takes.

I believe.

Live into the knowledge that you are already everything that you want to be, and you will get there!

Spring is here, and the world is literally transforming into newness right in front of our eyes. As I sit at my computer, appreciating the magic outside my windows, I pause and smile because it hits me – Social Media exists in a state of perpetual Spring.

Social Media is constantly evolving, always changing, always giving birth to something innovative and fresh. As new technologies and new platforms are developed, they seem truly to take on lives of their own.

Is the transition from old to new always smooth? Definitely not. Facebook’s changes over the past year, for example, were met with great resistance. Many people vehemently protested the ticker, the timeline, the news feed changes and more. In the end, however, protest or not, the changes still came.

Not all social media innovations thrive. As one platform, such as the social networking aspect of Google+, struggles to survive Winter, another like Snapchat is born. The world of Social Media constantly beams with new life, and every aspect evolves in its own unique way.

Such is it with people. By participating in the world of Social Media, we have the opportunity to create our own seasons of growth and change, to be the first bloom or the last.

Either way, what matters is that we bloom. We engage. We live.

Local citizens everywhere embrace the world of social media and use it to engage in their communities. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, for example, there are approximately 3 tweets talking in some way about the city every minute. This means that over 2,000 conversations take place every day by hundreds of Twitter users. Just imagine that taking place in a non-virtual atmosphere: hundreds of people having 2000 conversations at once while actually hearing and responding to what everyone else is saying.

Conversation. People. Life.Social Media is not technology. It’s a way to connect.

Why should you participate? Not to grow your business, increase your brand or make more money, although those are all powerful by-products.

You should engage in Social Media because that is where the people are, and to be where the people are, to be part of the people, is to share in something greater than ourselves.

Together we have the power to inspire, to shape our futures, to change the world. We may yet discover that Social Media is the most powerful way to do just that.

I was recently asked this question: What inspires you? While there are so many things that inspire me, my answer was this:

If I had to choose one thing that inspires me that encapsulates all the other things that inspire me, it would be beauty itself. There is beauty in every moment, if we can simply open our eyes and our hearts to recognize it.

I’m inspired by the beauty in the birds singing outside my window while I work.

I’m inspired by the beauty of my daughter’s laughter.

I’m inspired by the beauty within the women I admire, who live and work with passion and integrity and who inspire greatness in so many.

I’m inspired by the beauty in those small acts of kindness that I witness every day.

I’m inspired by the beauty of the dreams we dream because those dreams become reality and perpetuate more beauty in the world. It’s a never-ending cycle, a thing of beauty, indeed.

Here’s a little song I wrote, not gonna sing it note for note, don’t worry…be happy.

— Bob Marley

This is the greatest gift you can give yourself…the gift of happiness. And when you’re feeling it…for goodness sake, don’t keep it to yourself. Spread the love.

Whether it’s a personal moment of joy, an experience that you’re proud of, a video that made you laugh, a photo that made you smile, a story that made you cry happy tears, or something else…if it’s made you happy, then surely it will bring happiness to others, too.

Sometimes, it’s the sharing itself that spreads happiness, even more than the content. Because you took the time to share something that was meaningful to you, that holds meaning for others.

Happiness, like love, becomes magnified when it is shared with others. You don’t need a happy challenge, but if that makes it work for you, then go for it.

By sharing what makes you happy on social, you impact so many…those close to you and those around the globe.

Before we know it, if we all start sharing our happies, we may just have a HappinessEpidemic on our hands.